The rain might have slowed Dak Prescott in the first half, but it didn’t stop him. Against a Missouri defense that had been No. 1 in the SEC, allowing 12.5 points per game, Prescott went 27-of-40 through the air for 303 yards and four touchdowns in Mississippi State’s 31-13 victory Thursday night.

With the four touchdowns, Prescott became only the sixth player in SEC history to account for 100 or more in his career.

With four scores in Thursday's rout of Missouri, Dak Prescott has 10 passing touchdowns and 14 overall in his past three games. AP Photo/L.G Patterson

What this win means for Mississippi State: If Prescott can put up these kind of numbers against Missouri, one of the best defenses in the SEC, what’s stopping him from doing it against Alabama next or Ole Miss at the end of the season? Mississippi State might not win the West, but the No. 20 Bulldogs have an opportunity to play spoiler down the stretch. This team is playing as well as anybody in the conference over the past month.

What this loss means for Missouri: First, the good news: Missouri finally scored a touchdown. (We’ll get to that in a minute.) Now for the bad news: The Tigers have lost four straight and are in serious danger of missing the postseason. Freshman quarterback Drew Lock continued to struggle Thursday night, throwing two more interceptions. And the defense, the strength of this team, had no answers for Prescott and the Bulldogs.

Player(s) of the game: Obviously, Prescott would be the player of the game. But let’s give wide receivers De'Runnya Wilson and Fred Ross credit, too. Wilson finished with four catches for 102 yards and two touchdowns, with the first score coming in the pouring rain. Ross caught the game’s first touchdown and finished with 11 grabs for 115 yards. This is an underrated wide-receiver corps that seems to improve with every game.

Stat of the game: In the second quarter, Russell Hansbrough scored on a 14-yard run. How long had it been between touchdowns for Missouri? Thirty-three days. In that span, Missouri went 47 offensive possessions, 14 quarters and 226 minutes, 46 seconds of game time without finding the end zone.

Unsung hero: Mississippi State’s Chris Jones has been inconsistent at times this year, but he was simply unblockable Thursday night. The junior defensive lineman was credited with one sack, though he could’ve had three. He also had two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry. The line as a whole was dominant with 11 tackles for loss, five sacks, three QB hurries and a batted ball at the line of scrimmage that resulted in an interception.